no. 299

This week, I spent about 36 hours on a last-minute work trip to London and used that opportunity to check out their new archway space. It's there where a new taproom will be built out over the summer, which is where we'll be welcoming all our collaborators and drinkers come fall.

After a quick tour of the grounds and a conversation about how we'd bring it all to life, I shared more than a few beers with Chris Hall, BBN's sales/media/events person. I first met Chris on a trip to the Czech Republic with Pilsner Urquell a few years ago when he was blogging about beer (and doing a great job of it). We've kept in touch since then as I went on to build GBH and he went on to find a home in a brewery. Cracking these bottles reminded me of how fast our industry moves, and how important those small connections are early on.

A few years back, I received a valuable piece of advice that isn't so much the warning it was intended to be, but more a prophecy about the wonderful opportunities that would lay ahead: "In beer, you work with everyone at least twice."